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Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates are used to calculate Housing Benefit for tenants renting from private landlords. LHA rates relate to the area in which you make your claim. These areas are called broad rental market areas (BRMA). A BRMA is where a person could reasonably be expected to live taking into account access to facilities and services.

LHA rates are based on private market rents being paid in the BRMA which can differ from advertised rents. Valuation Office Agency (VOA) Rent Officers collect the rental information from letting agents, landlords and tenants.

How Local Housing Allowance rates are calculated

The Rent Officer maintains rental information for each category of LHA rates. These are the list of rents.
Mathematical calculations are applied to the list of rents to determine the LHA rate which is set as the lower of:

the 30th percentile on a list of rents in the broad rental market area

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